Sitting pretty for 2020 season
The NFL’s 2020 regular-season schedule is officially set … seemingly in quicksand, with the league hoping it can play a full slate as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on. Here are some winners from the reveal:
> Brady-Brees: The new rivalry between NFC South quarterbacks Drew Brees and Tom Brady gets an early start when New Orleans hosts the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on opening weekend. The rematch in Tampa comes on the “Sunday Night Football” stage in Week 9.
> Brady 2.0: As you’d expect, TB12, now in “Tompa Bay,” and his Bucs will be featured in five prime-time games. And his quarterback adversaries are quite a murderers’ row, with two matchups apiece against Brees and former MVP Matt Ryan and two others against the Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers and Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, league MVPs themselves.
> Patriots: Brady is gone from New England, but the league apparently believes Bill Belichick’s perennial AFC East champs will remain a strong draw given they’re again scheduled to play in prime time five times. Worth noting — four of those contests occur after Week 8, meaning the Pats could more easily be flexed away if Jarrett Stidham bombs.
> Mike McCarthy: The Dallas Cowboys’ new coach could have a soft re-entry into the league after his 2019 sabbatical. America’s Team’s opponents have a combined .459 winning percentage based on last year’s records, the easiest outlook for any NFC team.
> AFC North: Based on 2019 regular-season records, this division projects to have the easiest schedules, ones that include matchups with every AFC South and NFC East team. The Ravens have the easiest lineup in the league (.438 opponent winning percentage in 2019), followed by Pittsburgh (.457) with Cleveland owning the fourth-easiest docket (.461) league-wide.
> NFL100: Yep, you get to celebrate a century of NFL football once more. The league played its 100th season in 2019, but Sept. 17 is its 100th birthday. On that Thursday night, the Browns will host the cross-state rival Cincinnati Bengals with NFL Network scheduled to pay tribute to the league’s birthplace in nearby Canton, Ohio, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.